Egyptian Duo Mostafa Asal and Nour El Tayeb Top 2024 Draws

The Manchester Open returns to the PSA World Tour calendar next month with 48 players set to battle for the Silver-level titles at the National Squash Centre. Egyptian duo Mostafa Asal and Nour El Tayeb top the draws, with Asal looking to score a first win on English soil, whilst El Tayeb will be aiming for a third Manchester Open title.

The event will take place from May 22-26, with two glass courts in action during the first two rounds. All action will be streamed live on SQUASHTV with tickets available for purchase here.

Men’s World No.4 Asal will be featuring in his first Silver-level event in Manchester as he looks to build on his Black Ball Squash Open success earlier this week. The Egyptian star has been working with former World No.1 James Willstrop in recent months, basing himself in Pontefract, just over 50 miles North East of Manchester, and he will be hoping that the lessons that he is learning can guide him to a first PSA victory on English soil. Asal will take on either George Parker or Manchester-born wildcard Finnlay Withington in round two after an opening round bye.

England No.2 Marwan ElShorbagy is the No.2 seed for the event and is looking to capture a 14th PSA title and his first since December 2022. The 30-year-old has reached two finals this season and is always capable of causing upsets when he finds his best squash. He is set to face the winner of France’s Gregoire Marche and England’s Simon Herbert in round two.

Two-time finalist and 2022 champion Joel Makin is the No.3 seed. The Welshman has had an injury-plagued campaign so far but seems to have put those issues behind him with a run of successive events now under his belt. Makin is regarded as one of the fittest players on the tour and has beaten every player above him in the rankings over the past three years. He’ll be hoping to draw on the British crowd’s energy to urge him toward a second title in Manchester. Makin will take on the winner of Juan Vargas and Daniel Poleshchuk on day two.

Egypt occupy four of the remaining top eight seeding places in the men’s draw with Youssef Soliman, Youssef Ibrahim, Fares Dessouky and Mohamed ElSherbini all hoping to perform strongly to boost their rankings. Spain’s Iker Pajares is the other seeded player in the draw.

In the women’s event, defending champion El Tayeb will be hoping for another successful week in Manchester as she looks to score a third win at the National Squash Centre. The World No.5 is one of the most skilful players on tour and will look to harness all of her powers to claim a fourth title of the 2023-24 season. Her round two opponent will be either Saskia Beinhard or Aifa Azman.

England No.1 Georgina Kennedy will be the No.2 seed in Manchester. The 27-year-old recently claimed her first win of the season at the German Open, beating World No.4 Nele Gilis in the title decider. Kennedy is seeded to face tough opposition throughout the draw and opens with a round two match against either Hollie Naughton or Cindy Merlo before a potential quarter-final meeting with Optasia Championships winner Satomi Watanabe.

Egyptian duo Rowan Elaraby and Salma Hany occupy the No.3 and 4 seeding positions. Hany claimed her first title since 2023 recently at the Australian Open, whilst Elaraby will be determined to reach her second final of the season and cement her place in the top 10. Elaraby will face either Chan Sin Yuk or Ainaa Amani in her opening match. whilst Hany will square off against Millie Tomlinson or Tesni Murphy.

Manchester-born wildcard Saran Nghiem will face compatriot Alicia Mead on day one, hoping to utilise the home crowd advantage to score a first World Tour win of her career.